MyNavStyle

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

Ancient Hindu culture had divided life in
four stages – student, householder, retired and renunciation. Indulgence with
material things was permitted in household life, which would span for 20+
years. After that person would start preparing for renunciation, by slowly
handing over the responsibility to younger generation and taking advisory role
for the time being.

Minimalism – a new normal in western
culture has some flavor from our roots.

Since I am in a wellness profession, I strongly
believe that holistic wellness culture in family or society can be imbibed, if
we start practicing simple (minimalistic) lifestyle. Joining an expensive gym
or hiring a celebrity trainer would only defeat the objective.

Let me share my journey in this space. I
have spent two decades in corporate life, climbing the ladder from individual
contributor to managing a large business. As we all know, with growth comes
higher remuneration. Beyond a point, we start indulging into “wants,” well
supported by consumer led society.

It is very difficult to draw a line between
wants & needs. It varies from people to people. As we look at our peers, we
get drawn in indulgence.

When I started 2mpower in 2009, first thing I decided to do
is to use public transport for commuting, as much as possible. This helped me
take more STEPS everyday, at the same time allowed me to be with people, who
struggle to meet ends everyday. This was the most difficult step in adopting
simple lifestyle, as I was used to chauffeur driven cars.

Once I was able to adapt to this, it was
much easier for me to give away branded items, and use minimalistic items, be
it clothing, stationary, food or other lifestyle accessories. I knew that, if I
do not give them, it would be anyway stolen in my daily commute. Plus it
allowed me to be one with other folks travelling in the public transport.

I gave-up my lifetime membership in 7-start
hotel for health club, and decided to be on open spaces for my running and other
physical activities. I started using public space much better, and started to
appreciate some of the large lung spaces we have in our city. Very recently, I
have started bare-foot running, and that has really relieved me from worrying
about my footwear. Now, I can run anywhere, anytime in barefoot.

As a family, we have started this journey,
and have set milestones every year for simplifying our lifestyle.

Before America start exporting this
“minimalistic” life to our country, the way it has done for Yoga, I think we
should look back at our roots. Wisdom hides there in abundance!

As GetActive, we continue to focus in helping corporate to
become ACTIVE, by increasing employees activity levels to 10,000 STEPS. We encourage
walking, in small measures all through the day. And help build a lifelong habit
of staying active & healthy.

Educational qualifications have changed
from postgraduate degrees to college dropouts. Professional experience
qualification as an employee is boring.

A sudden shift in “reference” based on few
DATA points is mind-boggling.

Another thing, which worries me, is the
yardstick of success in the startups.

When I started 2mpower, my focus was to bring a change in
people’s lifestyle, to make them healthier, thereby reduce the burden of
man-made chronic diseases on individual, family & on society at large.

As a founder, I firmly believed in
practicing healthy & holistic lifestyle. My family adopted it
whole-heartedly. And we stared influencing our friends and acquaintances
slowly.

Our initial years were spent learning the
human behavior and psychology. Iterations were made constantly, as we learn
what is working and what is not.

Austerity was practiced to conserve the
small capital we had invested to experiment this concept. Later, when our
friends & family gave us more money, we continued to use every penny to
perfect the model.

Money raised subsequently was looked at as
an obligation to return. And keep the trust of our well wishers.

While some of this ethos exists in many
startups, the societal pressure on success yardsticks is corrupting the DNA of
entrepreneurship.

This is similar to education, where we rank
the school based on the remuneration packages offered to its students. Not on
the knowledge & wisdom imparted during the tenure.

Entrepreneurship is great. It helps evolve
you as a human, make you responsible for the society you live, and help create
wealth for people.

Every individual should experience this
journey in true spirits. Once you start treading this path, it is a marathon
race. While you will reach the finish line sooner or later, enjoy the trials
& tribulations, successes & failures, and joy of not cheering from the sidelines!

As GetActive, we continue to focus in helping corporate to
become ACTIVE, by increasing employees activity levels to 10,000 STEPS. We
encourage walking, in small measures all through the day. And help build a
lifelong habit of staying active & healthy.